1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to jackets for insulating heated or cooled beverages, preferably conventional single-serving aluminum cans, and methods for making said insulating devices.
2. Description of Related Art
A wide variety of disposable packaging for beverages of all types are currently available to consumers. Such packaging includes aluminum cans, glass bottles and plastic bottles and can be single-serving sized (e.g. 4, 6, 8, 12, or 16 ozs.) or multiple serving sized.
While such beverage containers offer many advantages, one of the disadvantages is that the containers generally have poor insulative capabilities. Hence, chilled beverages in particular tend to rapidly gain temperature once the beverage container is taken from a chilled environment, e.g., a refrigerator, and opened for consumption.
To address this problem, a considerable number and variety of different forms of insulated devices for jacketing beverage cans have been developed over recent years to act as holders for beverage cans while being consumed, the insulative character of such devices acting to minimize heat transfer from the warmer ambient atmosphere to the chilled beverage within the container. One popular form of such devices is made of foamed synthetic thermoplastic material commonly called foam rubber, formed as a cylindrical jacket dimensioned to closely encircle a standard twelve-ounce beverage can. Such devices typically also include a circular foam rubber bottom wall to provide additional insulative properties. These are sometimes referred to as “can coolers,” “koozies” or “coozies.” These can coolers are generally somewhat flexible and sized to fit snugly around conventional single-serving beverage containers such as aluminum cans, or glass or plastic bottles.
While these devices function well for their intended purpose, they have certain disadvantages. The earliest can coolers were entirely constructed of synthetic foams. Later can coolers were constructed with fabric-backed sheets of synthetic foam. When the foam has a single side with a fabric backing the result is a can cooler having a fabric outer surface and exposed foam inner and edge surfaces. When the foam has a fabric backing on both sides, the resulting coolers have exposed foam only at their outer edges. However in the double-sided embodiments of the prior art, the can cooler typically uses a lower grade of fabric on the interior of the can, one that is not designed or optimized to be suitable for ornamentation.
The use of fabric on the outside of the can cooler had several advantages. It permitted alternative methods of printing on the outside of the can cooler and presented a pleasing tactile surface for a person when holding the can cooler. The use of a fabric interior made it easier to slide the can cooler on and off of a container, particularly when the surface of the container was wet with condensation. Nevertheless, methods of constructing flexible can coolers that are available to date still leave exposed foam at the edge surfaces of the cooler. The foam edge surfaces are esthetically and tactilely displeasing and are difficult to ornament by conventional printing methods. Furthermore, the exposed foam edges are prone to nicks and tears that reduce the durability of the product.